St Catharine's College Cambridge

Congratulations to Alicja Duma, Conference & Events Coordinator, who is celebrating 15 years of bringing people together at Catz. Originally from Poland, Alicja joined our conference team in 2011 and has seen how the College's subsequent investment in our buildings and spaces transformed the events that she supports.

She said, “A lot has changed over the last 15 years at Catz in terms of the event spaces on offer and the clients we are able to work with: the McGrath Centre and Bar were being built when I joined and opened in 2013, and the completion of the Central Spaces building project in 2022 gave us the Sydney Smith Room and Garden Room, a beautifully refreshed Hall and step-free access for the first time between our meeting rooms on different floors. Behind the scenes, our team has grown from two to five people to keep pace with these new facilities and – much to my relief – we stopped using paper records to plan events some time ago!

"Day to day, I am supporting external clients as well as Fellows, staff, students and alumni who want to hold an event here. I like to go the extra mile by offering ideas that an event organiser might not have thought about, including special touches that might improve attendees’ experience and make an event more memorable.”

Read our full interview with Alicja at caths.cam.ac.uk/fifteen-years

Girls' Choir news 🎶 We're proud to open auditions on 5 July for new voices to join the Girls' Choir and offer access to fully-funded music theory lessons thanks to new bursaries established with the support of the Ouseley Church Music Trust. Find out more at https://www.caths.cam.ac.uk/girls-choir-2026

Here are some highlights from the last year for our Girls' Choir: the recent tour to Lincoln Cathedral and Southwell Minster (photo by Ellie Stoneley), Luminaria in the open air at Christmas and admitting three new recruits in November.

Alumni are invited to join our Henley Royal Regatta Gathering on Friday 3 July 2026. We will be hosting a drinks reception at the Sea Cadets on Wargrave Road over lunchtime.

With thanks to Nigel Orchard (1978, Engineering), who has chartered the boat that will host our gathering.

Please contact [email protected] for more information.

Photo from last year's regatta by Nick Palmer (2017, Engineering).

We are proud that a Catz Fellow led the coordination of the first official visit by a delegation from the Egyptian Court of Cassation – the highest court in Egypt – to the judiciary of England and Wales. Dr Hend Hanafy (2021), Tom Ivory Fellow in Law at Catz and Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Law, accompanied the delegation throughout their visit to the UK, which included time at Catz. Read our report: caths.cam.ac.uk/judicial-visit

Welcoming the first judicial visit between Egypt and the UK | St Catharine's College, Cambridge A Fellow of St Catharine’s has led the coordination of the first official visit by a delegation from the Egyptian Court of Cassation – the highest court in Egypt – to the judiciary of England and Wales. Dr Hend Hanafy (2021), Tom Ivory Fellow in Law at St Catharine’s and Assistant Professor ...

There's a month to go until our next undergraduate open days on 9th and 10th July. If you know any potential applicants, send them in our direction for regular guided tours between 9.30am and 4.30pm each day led by our friendly students as well as drop-in sessions with academics involved in our admissions process, talks and mock interviews. We're looking forward to showing everyone around and helping to answer questions about the application process and student life at Catz. Find out more at caths.cam.ac.uk/OpenDays

Photo by Binky Nixon.

We are proud to hear about where life have taken Catz alumni since graduation!
⭐ Alex Denny (2017, Archaeology; now Assistant General Counsel and Vice President (Legal) at Bank of America) wrote a piece for the Department of Archaeology about the support and experiences on offer as an undergraduate at Catz. Read his story at https://www.arch.cam.ac.uk/news/career-stories-alex-denny
⭐ Gabriel Nwodo (2020, Law; now an associate at Greenberg Traurig in London) shared insights on his career in international arbitration with the Faculty of Law. Watch the video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p8gE6ZgnVCk

There's still time to snap up some of the last tickets for the 2026 Catz May Ball on 25 June: https://tickets.catzmayball.co.uk/2026. Our headliner will be DJ and record producer Sigala, who has just played the Champions League Final and Birmingham Pride and will soon be hitting the summer festival circuit. Here's a video refresher of his hits over the last decade! https://youtube.com/shorts/ELjuudGD6HY

9 years of records and counting! What was the first song you heard? Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube.

Congratulations to two Fellows who have been shortlisted in the 2026 Cambridge Excellence Awards for going above and beyond to enhance the experiences of students across the University of Cambridge, ahead of winners being announced on 25 June:
⭐ Prof. Katharine Dell (1996) for ‘Postgraduate Supervisor of the Year’; and
⭐ Prof. Matt Mason (2001) for ‘Innovative Teaching’.

Our Senior Tutor Holly Canuto (2020) said, “St Catharine’s is committed to providing a supportive environment in which everyone can flourish academically and we are proud to have so many Fellows who go above and beyond to help students achieve their full potential. I am delighted to hear that Katharine and Matt have been singled out by students for the high quality of support that they provide postgraduates and undergraduates. I’m sure I won’t be alone in rooting for them on 25 June!”

Read our news story at caths.cam.ac.uk/excellence-awards

Photo of Prof. Dell by Elodie Giuge.

If you know any Year 12 students thinking about studying medicine, let them know about our free taster day on 30 June hosted by our students, staff and Fellows, including Prof. Stefan Marciniak (2011) as Director of Studies in Clinical Medicine. Our medicine taster days have been going from strength to strength and we look forward to meeting more future medics at the end of the month. Sign up before 15 June at caths.cam.ac.uk/med

Photo of Prof. Marciniak by Melanin Medics.

It's World Environment Day so we're celebrating how cutting-edge research by the Catz community is working towards building a more sustainable future 💡 Mahdi Ghamsari (Chemistry PhD student and Harding Scholar) is looking at whether traditional semiconductor materials in solar cells can be replaced with bacteria that feed on carbon dioxide and convert sunlight into electricity, with the promise of greener energy solutions in the future.

Mahdi explained, "Imagine a future where we can harvest electricity directly from plants, with power-producing forests supplying energy to nearby cities. Of course, that vision is still some years away. My role as a PhD student, working at the early stages of this field, is to understand how and why these bacteria are able to produce electricity. Gaining this mechanistic insight can help pave the way for future researchers to improve the efficiency and practicality of these systems for real-world applications."

Moving from Iran to Cambridge, Mahdi chose Catz because of our reputation as one of the friendliest Cambridge Colleges. He told us, "I have truly enjoyed being part of Catz, and especially its Middle Combination Room (MCR), which has given me a real sense of home. The friends I’ve made here feel like a new family. Catz is such a warm and welcoming place, and I feel lucky to spend my time with people from so many different countries and academic backgrounds. It’s been a very special part of my Cambridge experience."

Read more about Mahdi's research and life at Catz at caths.cam.ac.uk/harding/profiles/mahdi-ghamsari

Photo of Mahdi with our Master Sir John Benger (1979, English) by Elodie Giuge.